


Caught

by lokiedokiee



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:15:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29986182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lokiedokiee/pseuds/lokiedokiee
Summary: Loki x reader enemies to lovers slow burn. Fuel the writer? Send me prompts and I'll pick the best ones to base the next chapters off of!Temporary title(?) until the story begins to emerge <3
Relationships: Loki/Reader
Comments: 15
Kudos: 58





	1. Chapter 1

You can’t remember.

You’re not being dramatic; you really can’t remember _anything_.

Where you are, what you were doing, why every bone in your body _aches_ , or who this pale, half dead looking man with long black hair kneeling before you is.

Something warm and wet is dripping down the side of your face. Blood.

Pain is a sensation long forgotten to you, but now you’re experiencing it again it feels like only yesterday that it was second nature to have some sort of wound somewhere on your body.

Your breath is coming in short, sharp bursts; each inhale feels like knives in your chest. It’s only now that you notice the knife in your hand. It’s bloodstained. You’re pointing it at the man before you.

“Do it.”

His voice is so hoarse that you can hardly make out the words he utters. Your eyes flick from the knife in your hand to his face, and slowly, things start to make sense.

This is the man who had led the attack on New York; the one you’ve been fighting against. His face had been all over the news this morning, and that’s how you recognised him when… when he’d…

Your eyes move to the odd looking spear on the ground next to him. It’s within his reach, but he makes no move towards it, his eyes fixed on your face. That _thing_ is what he’d used to control you.

Your memories were still blurred, but that much was clear: he’d been controlling you.

“Please.”

Your eyes meet his again. Everything hurts; your arm is shaking just from the effort of holding up this one knife towards his face. Something’s different about him. You can’t put a finger on it, but he looks different to how he looked on the news, besides the fact that he’s covered in bruises and blood.

And he’s asking you to kill him.

You should. Shouldn’t you? Countless people must be dead because of him. And you’re stood over him with a knife, perfectly aware of several ways to end his life with one swift movement. You’ve done it enough times before.

But that was then. This is now.

His eyes are boring into yours; he looks desperate. You can’t think straight.

“No!” a deep voice shouts, and suddenly your decision is made for you. You can’t help but feel relieved as the knife drops from your hand.

A hand descends on your shoulder, and you turn to look into the face of Tony Stark. The rest of the Avengers are crossing the room towards you, weapons pointed at the man on the floor, who keels to one side as you back away from him.

The voice, you realise, belonged to Thor. The man’s brother.

As your legs finally give up on you and you begin an ungainly descent towards the ground, two thoughts cross your mind.

The first is the remembrance of the pale man’s name.

The second is the realisation that Loki’s eyes had been an entirely different colour when you’d seen him on the news that morning.

And then the darkness takes you.


	2. Chapter 2

When you wake up, you immediately come to the conclusion that the entire past day has been nothing more than a weird, weird dream. Then you open your eyes, and find yourself in a bustling medical ward.

Never mind then, you think to yourself gloomily.

Your left leg is bandaged tightly, and a quick examination of the side of your head with your fingers tells you that you have multiple stitches running along the side of your head. Other than that, and the fact that you ache all over, you seem to be doing just fine.

You’ve definitely been in states a lot worse than this, that’s for sure.

You sit up and look around, before immediately regretting your decision. There are a lot of injured people milling around, some of whom aren’t being treated yet. You catch a hassled looking nurse as she walks past.

“I don’t need to be here. Someone else can take this bed.” you tell her, getting to your feet and swaying slightly where you stand. She doesn’t hesitate, or argue, immediately hurrying off towards a corridor full of injured people who are waiting to be seen.

You walk tenderly out of the ward (your leg is pretty sore), and realise straight away that you’re in Stark Tower.

Where should you go? You reach for your phone, before realising that it’s gone. You have no recollection of what might have happened to it. It had definitely been in your pocket when Nat had burst into your office and told you to follow her, _quickly_ , or had it?

How long ago had that been? You don’t wear a watch, so you don’t even know what _time_ it is.

“Miss Y/N?”

It’s good to hear a familiar voice.

“Hey J.A.R.V.I.S.” you reply to the ceiling.

“Mr Stark and Natasha are with Mr Barton on the twenty third floor, if you wish to speak with them.” the A.I. tells you helpfully.

“Thanks bud. Is the elevator…?”

“Fully functioning, Miss Y/N.”

Thank god for that. You aren’t sure if you’re up for tackling the stairs in the state you’re currently in.

Five minutes later you limp into the meeting room which Tony, Nat and Clint are currently sat in.

“Y/N, are you okay? Should you be out of the ward yet?” Nat asks as you walk in, standing up to pull a chair up for you.

“Probably not, but there are people who need a bed more than me in there.” you say, wincing as you sit down and remember the state of some of the people you’d seen.

“Are you okay?” Nat repeats.

“I don’t know.” you reply, looking down at your hands which are caked in dried blood. You don’t know where the blood has come from.

The last time you had held a knife had been when you’d worked for SHIELD, almost three years ago now. You were the youngest SHIELD agent ever to have been recruited, and one of the most skilled, too, according to Nick Fury.

On your eighteenth birthday, however, after an undercover mission had almost gone badly wrong, you had told Fury that you didn’t want a part of it anymore. He’d let you go, reluctantly, but only if you’d agreed to stay on with a desk job. Which you had.

You would have been offered a place on the Avengers initiative, you knew, if you hadn’t quit. But you had, and you refused to let yourself feel any sort of regret about it.

“So, he got you too, huh? With the spear… thing?” Clint asks you, bringing you back into the room. You look at him, and then Tony and Nat.

“I’m confused. What happened?”

Tony tells you everything, and from what he says you work out what must have happened to you. By the end of his monologue your head is spinning.

“So, you flew a missile into a wormhole.” you ask Tony. He nods.

“Not that your ego needs stroking anymore, but that was a pretty cool thing to do. Thank you.”

Tony gestures to you in amazement before turning to Nat and Clint.

“No one has said thank you to me yet! Thank _you_ Y/N.” he replies. You smile painfully.

Being so close with the Avengers has it’s perks, one of which being that you occasionally get to sass billionaire Tony Stark.

“So, what’s the damage?” you ask, and the mood in the room takes a rapid turn for the worse.

“Fifty two confirmed dead so far, and that figure is on the rise. They’ve stopped trying to keep count of the injured. Extreme damage to a _lot_ of infrastructure and… well, see for yourself.” Tony replies, pressing a few holographic buttons on the table before you to get up a hologram of the news coverage of the carnage that is New York.

You’d helped cause that damage. Clint seems to be thinking along the same lines as you, because then Nat is shaking her head at you both.

“You couldn’t have done anything. Who knows what magic Loki was using to control the two of you, and Selvig.”

“And Coulson.” Tony adds quietly; uncharacteristically. Nat and Clint both look down.

You look around at the three of them in confusion, and then horror.

“Coulson… he’s not..?”

The look Tony gives you tells you all you need to know.

“Shit.” you say, wondering as you do so if you’re in shock. You worked closely with Coulson during your time at SHIELD, and you don’t know how to feel about the fact that he’s dead.

The four of you lapse into silence, watching the news footage on the hologram before you.

“Where are the others?” you ask after a few minutes, breaking the silence.

“Bruce is… off, somewhere. He always goes off sulking after he has an episode.” Tony tells you; Nat gives him a dirty look.

“Thor is down in the cells with Loki, and Steve-”

“What do you mean ‘down in the cells’?” you ask incredulously.

“…he’s being held down in the cells.” Tony tells you, as though it was obvious.

“You’re keeping a _god_ locked up. _Here_.” you repeat slowly. Tony frowns at you.

“Thor was adamant that he wasn’t going back to Asgard. From what I gathered Dad isn’t overly fond of Loki…”

“I wonder why.” Clint mutters.

“…and Thor thinks he’ll be killed if he takes him back.” Tony finishes.

“I don’t see the issue.” Nat interjects.

You think for a moment.

“On the news, earlier, when they showed Loki, his eyes were blue. I remember thinking how creepy they looked. But earlier when I was with him, they were green.” you say to the others.

“What’s your point?” Tony asks.

“You said Clint’s eyes were bright blue, right Nat? When he was being controlled?” you ask. Nat nods, and Clint frowns.

“Selvig’s were too.” Nat tells you.

“Right, so isn’t it safe to assume that Loki was being controlled by that spear thing too?” you suggest.

“If I didn’t know any better, Y/N, I’d say it sounds like you’re trying to defend him.” Tony tells you. You scoff.

“Of course I’m not trying to defend him. It makes no difference to me whether he goes back to whatever planet it is him and Thor are from and gets the death penalty… or whatever it is they have up there.”

“Death by flying hammer?” Clint suggests, and Nat laughs.

“Anyway, shouldn’t we be doing something useful?” you suggest, gesturing to the news footage pf the destruction outside.

“I’ve just single-handedly saved this entire city and had half of my multi-million dollar building destroyed, I’m going for a nap.” Tony informs you, standing up wearily.

“Andd he’s back.” you say, only half sarcastically. To be fair, he is still in his suit and he looks pretty beaten up.

“I’ll come with you to help.” Nat offers, and Clint nods. You all leave the room, you, Nat and Clint bidding goodbye to Tony as he goes a separate way to you.

When you reach the elevator, Thor walks out in front of you.

“Y/N, I need to speak with you. Please.” he adds as an afterthought. He looks tired.

“I- okay.” you reply, looking at Nat, who shrugs.

“See you down there?” she asks, and you nod, following Thor back down the corridor and into the meeting room you’d just vacated. Thor gestures for you to sit down, and you do, on the table. He paces the room.

“Did Loki say anything to you?” he asks. You blink.

“He- uh…” you can’t think of a polite way to tell the god of thunder that his brother asked you to kill him. By the look on Thor’s face, you expect he already knows.

“I was pointing a knife at him… I can’t remember doing it though-” something suddenly clicks into place in your brain. Loki had tried to get you to kill him while he still had control of you.

Thor seems to have had the same realisation, and sits down heavily in a chair, which groans loudly in protest as it takes his weight.

“-he said… ‘Do it’. But I couldn’t.” you tell him. You aren’t as close with Thor as you are with the other Avengers, and you don’t think you’ve ever been alone in a room with him before.

You spent time with Nat and Clint as a SHIELD agent, and Tony makes it his business to know everyone, but Thor, Steve and Bruce are three individuals you haven’t talked to a lot.

Thor closes his eyes, and you feel sympathy for him rise in your chest. It’s clear that he cares for Loki. This must be awful for him.

“Did he say anything else?” Thor asks you.

“No. Only, ‘please’.” you tell him, and Thor opens his eyes and frowns at you as though you’ve annoyed him. You shift uncomfortably on the table.

“Loki doesn’t say please.” he tells you. You don’t reply, looking at your hands. That’s all very well, you think, but he’d definitely said it to _you_.

“His eyes…” you begin.

“Yes. I believe he was being controlled by the sceptre as you and the others were.” Thor says blatantly. You nod.

“Although he’s not making things easier for himself. He’s refusing to speak, even to me.” he continues.

“He must be confused.” you say.

“Yes, but in my brother’s language ‘confused’ and ‘hostile’ can sometimes get mixed up in translation.” Thor tells you humourlessly. You frown at the floor, wondering why you feel sorry for the man, sorry, _god_ , who had mind controlled you and destroyed a good chunk of New York City.

“Thank you.” Thor says suddenly, standing up abruptly.

“I- what for?” you ask, wondering if he’s being sarcastic, before remembering that Thor probably doesn’t know what sarcasm is.

“For not killing him,” Thor tells you. “Shall we go?”

You slide off of the table and follow Thor from the room, thinking about Loki’s eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: So Y/N goes down to the cell to see Loki who once again asked her to kill him. But she refuses trying to understand the gods pain.   
> A/N: I loved this but hear me out... Loki turning up in Y/N's office instead. Send me more prompts this is actually going so well! <3

A few days later, life still hasn’t returned to normal. You’re beginning to doubt that it will.

SHIELD HQ had been razed to the ground in the attack, so the entirety of SHIELD’s employees have been rehomed temporarily in Stark Tower. It’s officially been renamed the Avengers Tower now, but you can’t get used to it.

There’s been a sudden, upward surge in your workload, obviously. More than eighty percent of SHIELD’s entire hard copy records have been destroyed, and you’re still working on gaining access to some of the online ones.

Security has more than tripled, both physical and online; you can’t seem to walk two paces down any corridor without encountering a guard, or click more than twice on your computer without having to enter a password.

Which is why the thought of what is about to happen hasn’t even crossed your mind.

It’s Thursday, late afternoon; you’ve just come out of a two hour meeting and the thought of going back to your apartment and ordering a takeaway has never seemed so inviting. It’s been a long week.

The door to your office is half open, and you’re used to people coming in and out all day, so you don’t bat an eyelid as you hear the door get pushed open.

“Hang on, let me just-”

Before you get to the end of your sentence, the sense that something isn’t right, the one that you fine-tuned so carefully during your days working for SHIELD, kicks in. _Big_ time. Your hands freeze over your keyboard, and, slowly, you look up.

Loki is stood in the doorway to your office.

Instinct tells you to scream, but then immediately after it tells you to keep it zipped. You do the latter, shock resonating through you. It’s impossible that he’s here.

He’s staring at you, and then raises an eyebrow as if to say, ‘oh really?’. Can he _hear_ you thinking?

Loki takes a step forward, and then pushes the door to your office shut behind him. You snap out of your initial debilitating shock and start to think. The phone right next to you will call for security, but there’s no way you can get there before he realises what you’re trying to do.

There are two knives in the bottom drawer of your desk.

Why are there no guards?! They’ve been walking up and down the corridor all bloody day, but now, when you actually _need_ one…

You’re going to have to try the phone. Before you’ve moved your hand barely an inch towards it, however, Loki speaks.

“Mm, I wouldn’t if I were you.”

His voice is low and without emotion; face devoid of expression. He’s staring at you, unblinkingly. It’s terrifying.

Instinct kicks in again; you can’t sit here in front of him entirely defenceless.

You move with lightning speed, flicking the bottom drawer of your desk open with the heel of your shoe and then stamping on the front of the drawer, hard. The two knifes are flung into the air and you stand up, snatching one of them into your hand before swinging it around to level at Loki’s chest.

The other knife doesn’t make it to the ground; it’s suddenly in Loki’s hand.

“Impressive.” he mutters, running a finger along the blade of your knife.

“You can’t be here.” you say, your voice restricted with fear.

“Oh, can’t I?” Loki asks you, looking around in surprise, “No one tried to stop me coming here.”

You try and think rationally, but you can’t formulate a realistic reason for why what is happening is happening.

“Relax.” he says, and you almost scoff. _Relax?_

“I’m not going to hurt you. I just came to see…”

Suddenly he’s on your side of the desk, stood right next to you, and your knife is at his throat. He tosses the knife he was holding to the ground beside him. Your eyes don’t leave his face.

“Finish it.” he tells you. He towers over you by at least a foot. If he wanted you dead, you would be already, you think. But that doesn’t make your heartrate slow, or your hand stop shaking.

Incredulously, Loki rolls his eyes.

“Come on, do it. You wanted to the other day.” he tells you. You’re overcome with a sudden wave of anger towards him.

“You’re a murderer.” you say quietly, pressing your knife harder against his neck. He closes his eyes, either a reaction to your words or to the additional pressure on his neck.

“Yes.” he replies. You don’t move. He opens his eyes again, looking at you.

“Do it.”

You’re taken back to a few days ago, when he’d said the exact same words to you. He’d been kneeling before you then; you hadn’t realised how tall he was. You think about what you’d said to Thor about Loki’s eyes.

“No.” you say, dropping your hand. You don’t kill. Not anymore.

Something flashes behind his eyes then; it’s the first hint of emotion you’ve seen from him. Anger.

In an instant he’s disarmed you, and then the knife is at your throat instead. You stop breathing.

“Kill me, or I will kill you.”

His voice is deadly serious, but something, deep inside you, tells you that he’s lying. But you also don’t want to take any chances.

Your knife is in your hand again, and in one swift movement you’ve buried it in Loki’s stomach, to the hilt.

He doesn’t even blink. For a second you stand face to face, looking at each other, before you let go of the knife handle and step backwards, suddenly wanting to get as far away from him as possible.

Loki’s shoulders slump suddenly, as though in defeat. He looks down at the knife handle protruding from his abdomen and then back at you.

He looks _disappointed._

“You and I both know that _that_ is not where you stab someone if you’re aiming to kill.”

You just stare, your back now pressed against the far wall.

Loki reaches down and pulls the knife from his stomach, not even wincing. You look away from the blood, so you don’t see his skin _literally_ knitting itself back together.

“Well, it was worth a try.” he tells you, throwing your now bloodstained knife on to your desk and moving towards the door, yanking it open.

You don’t move or speak as he leaves the room, not even looking back at you.

…

“He was _in_ my office!”

“Y/N, I think you should take a few days off.” Tony tells you. Thor is stood next to you, looking troubled.

“ _No_ ­- Tony, I’m not mad! He-”

“I don’t know what you want me to say Y/N. We checked the CCTV of your office, and saw nothing. We have eyes on Loki at all times, _and_ CCTV. He hasn’t left his cell.” Tony tells you.

You turn to Thor, your eyes pleading. He’s the only one who seems to be even slightly concerned.

“I think Tony’s right Y/N; you should take a few days off. I promise I’m keeping an eye on Loki, okay?”

You storm from the room, seething, still reeling from having Loki in your office. He _had_ been in there.

Even though you’d gone back to show Thor the knives and they’d both been back in your bottom drawer, clean. Even though Thor had showed you the CCTV of Loki’s cell in the last hour, and he hadn’t moved from his bed. Even though the CCTV from your office showed nothing.

You’re furious, but most of all you’re scared.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from @flameprincess2301: Obviously he’s fooling everyone at the tower with his illusions, and it makes her look crazy. Knowing Loki he’s probably aware of that last exchange between her, Tony, and Thor. Sooo... he could turn up in her home and play on her anger and insecurities making her feel crazy, and maybe she just starts believing he’s not real and begins to form a relationship with him like an invisible friend.   
> A/N: I loved this idea! I had a few prompts about Loki turning up at Y/N's apartment, so here you go! Keep the prompts coming <3

You’ve taken Tony’s advice and taken a few days off. Granted, two of the three days which you’ve taken have been a Saturday and a Sunday, but you didn’t really _need_ to take time off.

You’re _not_ seeing things.

It’s Sunday morning, and you’re sat on your sofa in your apartment eating breakfast, absentmindedly watching TV as you do. You feel better today; you’ve already planned to apologise to Tony and Thor first thing tomorrow.

Maybe, just maybe, your mind had been a bit affected by being controlled. But you were _sure_ Loki had been in your office. Stabbing someone in the stomach wasn’t something you would just _make up_.

You’re thinking about it when you get a bad feeling again. It’s strong, like last time.

You grab the remote control and mute the TV, listening hard. Nothing happens.

After a minute you relax slightly; you’re probably just paranoid.

Then the doorbell rings.

“Hello again.” Loki says when you open the door. The shock isn’t as abrupt as the first time, but you’re still speechless. You stand and stare at each other in silence for at least fifteen seconds.

“Shall I invite myself in?” he asks.

“Is there any point me telling you to go away?”

“I shouldn’t think so, no.” he responds, pushing past you into your apartment. His torso brushes against your arm as he does; he is definitely _there_.

You stand in the doorway for a few more seconds, reeling. A man is walking along the street, hand in hand with a small child.

Does _no one_ recognise Loki?

You come to your senses, closing the door and moving back into your apartment. Loki is looking around the kitchen, a look of mild interest on his face.

“Your chambers are quite pleasant.”

It might be because you’re in shock, but you snort loudly. Loki scowls at you, and the humour of the situation quickly evades you. You open your mouth to apologise, and then close it again.

Loki narrows his eyes at you, and then walks into your living room, looking out of the window. He’s so _tall._ He looks ill, but that’s nothing new. You wonder if they’re feeding him properly, and then instantly wonder why you care.

Should you call someone? It dawns on you that you don’t have a phone number for Tony. And Thor probably doesn’t have a phone. Who else would you call? Nat? She’d probably worry about you; everyone thinks Loki is still in a cell.

“Why did you bother ringing the doorbell?”

Loki turns back to you, looking thoughtful.

“Isn’t that Midgardian custom?”

“You didn’t care much for ‘Midgardian custom’ when you brought an _alien army_ here to try and take over the world.”

You’ve opened your mouth before thinking again. Loki just watches you as your expression moves through anger, regret, and then fear. There is a very loud silence.

“I won’t bother next time.”

You breathe. He gives you an appraising look.

“Next time?” you say suddenly.

“Well, yes. Unless you plan on putting me out of my misery properly this time.”

You can’t get used to him speaking of… _that_ , so blatantly.

“If that’s what you came here for, you’re out of luck.” you tell him. He sighs.

“I figured.”

You swallow nervously.

“Then… why are you here?”

“I’m bored.” Loki tells you, sitting down on your sofa and leaning back, closing his eyes.

It suddenly hits you for the first time that he’s _in_ your apartment. Loki. _In_ your apartment.

He opens his eyes at your silence, regarding you coolly.

“Planning on running to my brother again?” he asks, his voice laced with annoyance.

A drop of indignance mingles with the shock you’re experiencing. It doesn’t surprise you that he knows you told Thor.

“You’re a _criminal_. You’re meant to be locked up, what did you expect me to do?” you ask him incredulously.

Loki closes his eyes again, not deigning you with an answer. You sit down on the arm of your sofa in defeat, as far away from him as is humanly possible. Then you look over at him.

It strikes you for the first time that he looks tired. The dark shadows under his eyes, along with his malnourished physique and clearly unwashed hair, makes him look sort of… pitiful.

“Don’t.” he says suddenly.

You frown. He hadn’t even opened his eyes.

“Don’t what?”

“Pity me.” Loki says, after a pause.

“I don’t _pity_ you. You’re a-”

“Murderer. Criminal. You’ve told me.”

“Exactly.” you say, as though that settles the matter. Some small, hidden part of you does pity him, but you wish you wouldn’t.

Loki sighs, then opens his eyes and turns to face you.

“Well, I must admit this isn’t what I was hoping for.”

“What do you mean?” you ask.

“I was hoping for a better reaction. I thought you’d… try and call someone, or stab me again.” Loki tells you. You gape at him.

“You were bored… so you thought you’d try and get someone to _stab_ you?”

“I… suppose so, yes.”

He’s mad. But for some inexplicable reason you don’t feel as nervous anymore.

“How are you here? The cells in Star- the Avengers Tower, they’re as secure any cell can be. And there’s CCTV, and the guards…” you trail off, watching him. He gives nothing away from his facial expression.

“How do you think I’m here?” he asks you, shifting forwards slightly. He winces as he moves; you pretend not to see.

“You’re casting some sort of illusion.” you say. Loki smirks.

“So you don’t think that you’re going mad.”

You shake your head. Loki raises an eyebrow as though in approval.

“What if I do this?”

He disappears.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: no prompt, just an author with too much time on her hands :) Keep sending ideas in! I really loved the idea of the last prompt so I kinda just continued with that one<3

Your life has become _hell_.

Under normal circumstances you don’t consider yourself a paranoid person, but ever since Loki showed up at your apartment last week you’ve been massively on edge, convinced that he’s going to turn up at any moment.

Which he has, three times.

Once in your office, appearing directly behind Agent Hill and causing you to choke on your coffee before spilling it all over your desk. He’d disappeared again before Hill had the chance to turn around. Later that afternoon Tony had visited you in your office to ‘check up’ on you.

“I’m fine. Just tired.” you’d smiled.

Loki showed up again two days later in your apartment, in the middle of the night. The moment in which you’d caught sight of the silhouette of a dark figure in the corner of your living room definitely ranked in the top five most frightening moments of your life.

You’d shrieked and thrown a whole plant pot at him, but he disappeared before it made contact with his head (you had good aim if nothing else). There had been a dry chuckle from the other side of the room, and then nothing.

The noises hadn’t been easy to explain to your neighbours.

You hadn’t slept for two nights after that, refusing to shower for more than three minutes at a time and keeping all of your lights turned on throughout the night.

The last time you’d seen him had been Friday afternoon. You’d been eating lunch in the break room with a few of your co-workers, and Loki had just appeared in the middle of the room. In plain sight.

No one batted an eyelid. He was making it so that only you could see him.

“Y/N, are you okay? You’ve gone sorta pale.”

You’d excused yourself, inventing an excuse about ‘time of the month’, before grabbing your stuff and hurrying off to your office. Loki had followed you, strolling behind you at a leisurely pace.

_Whistling._

You’d slammed the door behind you, but he’d just teleported through it.

“ _So_ unladylike.”

You’d spun around to point at him threateningly.

“ _Leave me alone_.”

Your voice had sounded disgustingly desperate. Loki had obviously enjoyed that, because he just smirked and leaned back against your doorway, crossing his arms.

“Or what.”

You were ashamed to admit that you may have slightly lost your cool after that. There was now a dent in your door the exact size and shape of the paperweight which sat on your desk.

There was absolutely nothing you could do about the torture which had suddenly become your life. Tony thought you were getting better; you didn’t want him thinking that you were mental. And if Thor didn’t believe you, then no one would. You were trapped.

It’s currently Tuesday morning, and you’re absolutely shattered. Sleep is a concept long since lost to you. Although, you haven’t seen Loki since you threw a whole paperweight at him last week. Maybe he’s given up with torturing you.

You’re foolish to have hoped for such good fortune.

“You look awful.”

You jump out of your skin, knocking your cup of coffee with your elbow. Loki is suddenly beside you, and catches it. Then he _tuts_.

“You should really be more careful. That-”

You stand up, snatch the coffee from his hand, and throw it in his face. It’s still pretty hot, and you feel a rush of satisfaction as he hisses in pain, stepping backwards abruptly.

Then he glares at you with those cold, empty looking eyes of his, and you realise that you’ve just thrown hot coffee in the face of a convicted murderer.

You drop the empty cup that you were holding, and run. He doesn’t try and stop you, which strikes you as odd. As you run down the corridor you’re expecting at any moment to feel a knife between your shoulder blades, or for some magic to force you to stop running, but you don’t, and it doesn’t.

“Agent Y/L/N? What’s happened?”

Director Fury is stood in front of you. You skid to a halt, and find yourself at an absolute loss for words.

“I’m not an Agent anymore.” you find yourself, quite rudely, telling the most senior member of the organisation which you work for.

Fury frowns.

“Stark tells me that you had an ‘episode’ a couple of weeks ago; I was under the impression that you were well enough to come back to work.” he says to you sternly.

“I- uh…”

“Miss Y/N, I suggest you tell me what in hell’s name is going on here.” Fury demands, staring you down with his one good eye.

So, against your better judgement, you tell him the truth.

“I _didn’t_ have an episode. He really was in my office, and he’s been in my apartment too, showing up in the middle of the night…” you trail off once you’ve told him everything, realising that you probably should have kept your mouth shut.

Fury’s expression hasn’t changed once throughout your whole monologue.

“We’d better go and see Stark.” he finally says, turning and striding back up the corridor the way he’d come from. You stare after him, before practically falling over yourself to follow him. Is someone _finally_ taking you seriously?

…

You stand in front of a monitor between Tony and Fury, and watch as CCTV footage of you shouting at your office door, before throwing a paperweight at it and burying your head in your hands plays. Loki is nowhere to be seen on the footage.

“You told me you were fine.” Tony says, hitting pause on his computer before turning to look at you. He’s worried about you.

“I lied.”

“Stark, you can handle this. I’ve got places to be.” Fury says. Before he leaves, he places a hand on your shoulder and gives you an uncharacteristically sympathetic look.

“Get better, Agent Y/L/N.”

“I’m not an Agent.” you tell him. He just stares at you for a moment, before patting your shoulder and leaving the room.

“What are we going to do with you?” Tony asks, leaning back in his chair and giving you the same sympathetic look that Fury gave you.

“I’m not mad.” you say. It’s becoming something of a mantra for you.

“I know Y/N, but Reindeer Games obviously messed you up pretty good up there.” Tony tells you, pointing at your forehead. You don’t reply. What can you say?

“Maybe you should stay here for a bit. You can have one of the spare rooms upstairs: the team and I will be close by, and there are guards on patrol 24/7, on all floors.” Tony suggests.

He’s trying to take you seriously; to help you. You don’t cry, but if you did you imagine you probably would right now.

You can’t seem to speak, so end up just nodding instead.

“Yeah? Okay. The day’s pretty much over, go grab some stuff from your apartment and I’ll meet you back here in an hour?”

“Thank you.” you say, your voice slightly constricted. He nods, concern written all over his face.

“You’re welcome.”

You walk back to your office to retrieve your jacket and bag, and are relieved to find it empty. Just before you leave, you notice something.

There’s a fresh cup of coffee sat in the middle of your desk.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from @daggers_and_swords (from Wattpad): Y/N goes down to the cells to confront Loki, and to secretly confirm that she is not, in fact, insane.

Against Tony’s wishes, you return to work the next day.

Your new commute is a short one; you walk down the corridor to the elevator, take the elevator, and then walk down another corridor before arriving at your office.

Last night had been the best nights sleep you’d had in a week. The second your head had hit the pillow you’d been out like a light, not having to worry about criminals paying you visits in the middle of the night.

Subsequently you hadn’t needed the lie in you would have had time for if you had still been tired when you awoke. Instead you ended up having breakfast with Captain America.

You’d _almost_ curtseyed when he’d walked into the room, but had mercifully stopped yourself before any of your limbs had actually moved.

It had been a surprisingly pleasant breakfast; Steve was very nice and not actually all that intimidating.

Currently you’re sat in your office, staring at your computer screen whilst not actually doing any work. You’re thinking about the cup of coffee you’d found on your desk yesterday. Had Loki left it there? You’d assumed so at the time, and thrown it straight in the bin.

He’d probably poisoned it. Or something.

It had only reinforced your belief that he was in fact leaving his cell somehow, and that he wasn’t just a figment of your imagination. And yet…

 _Were_ you going mad? It was entirely possible that being mind controlled had had some sort of weird effect on your brain. But he looked real. He’d brushed past your arm the first time he’d visited your apartment; you’d definitely felt him.

You decide that there’s only one way to find out.

…

“I need to see the prisoner.”

“Which one?” the guard before you remarks, and his colleague, stood on the other side of the door, chuckles dryly.

“Loki.” you say.

“No can do Miss. Only authenticated personnel are allowed down to that level.” the guard tells you, crossing his arms.

‘Down to that level?’ Where are they keeping him?

“I have permission from Tony Stark.” you lie blatantly. The guard frowns.

“Mr Stark hasn’t said anything about…”

“No, it’s fine. I’d rather not go down there anyway, but he’s insisting,” you tell them, rolling your eyes. “He told me it’ll help me to ‘ground in reality’ again; that it’s really important for my recovery. I call bullshit.” you finish, backing away from the guards.

“Recovery?” one guard asks, looking concerned.

“He said he could count on you guys to get me down there and out again if I needed, but don’t worry. Will you cover for me if he asks though? Just say-”

“Well hang on, it sounds like you’d better do as he says.” the guard on the left frowns, uncrossing his arms.

“No, really, it’s-”

“Hey, come back. I’ll take you down, alright? If it’ll help your recovery…”

Three minutes later you’re stood in a lift with an armed guard on your way to Loki’s cell. You’re not the youngest ever recruited SHIELD agent for nothing.

The lift descends for the longest time, and the air temperature drops dramatically. When the doors finally slide open, you walk out into a dimly lit corridor which reminds you forcibly of a hospital.

“Follow me.” the guard says, and you walk tentatively behind him until you reach a door. He knocks, and then exchanges a few words with someone over a comms device set into the wall. Then the door buzzes open with a heavy clunk, and you walk through it.

You find yourself in a tiny, ill lit room furnished with nothing but a desk, chair and light. There is a large, heavy door made from solid steel set into the far wall, which is actually only about four paces ahead of you. The guards down here (there are only two of them) look bored to death. It’s grim.

“A visitor?” one of them asks, eyeing you up.

“Stark’s orders.” the guard accompanying you says. The first guard grunts in surprise, before standing up and striding over to the door. He does a series of complicated things with the locks and screws and bolts which cover the front of the door, before it clunks open.

“He’s been pretty docile since he got here, but if he does go for you…”

“I can handle myself.” you tell the guard with a smile. He looks at you appraisingly, before opening the door.

Loki’s cell is no more than seven metres by seven metres. Unlike the grim room outside, the walls floor and ceiling are white and the room is well lit, almost blindingly so. There’s a bed, a chair, a toilet and a sink. That’s it.

Loki is sat on the bed, facing away from you. The door thuds shut behind you.

“Back again brother? You were only here two days ago. Can you really not go-” Loki stops talking as he turns around and sees who is stood in his cell. You are rooted to the spot in shock.

He looks _awful_. Whenever you’ve seen him before he hasn’t looked great, sure, but he _was_ being held prisoner. Now however… he looks half dead. You can’t make sense of it; he was in your office only yesterday.

You blink, and he looks like he normally does again. Now you understand. He’s been using an illusion. Several illusions.

“Tell me how you’re doing it.”

He doesn’t miss a beat.

“Doing what?”

“Getting out. Following me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

You stare at him. He stares back.

“Yes you do.”

“I assure you, I don’t.”

He’s lying. He has to be lying. You’re suddenly very bored with the whole thing. Not angry, or scared, just fed up. Loki watches you incredulously as you flop into the chair which is pushed against the wall.

“What are you doing?”

“Sitting down. Is that okay?”

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

“And I’d rather you didn’t make my life _hell_ , but we don’t always get what we want, do we?”

He doesn’t reply, still sat on his bed, watching you. You press the palms of your hands into your eyeballs.

“I think I’m going mad.” you say, not specifically to Loki. Your voice catches as you voice your fear aloud.

What are you _doing_ here? If he really hasn’t been following you around, then you’ve just started having a mental breakdown in front of a mentally unstable criminal who’s never met you before.

There’s a long, long silence. And then…

“You’re not.”

You look up at Loki abruptly. He’s looking at the floor.

“What?”

“You’re not going mad. I’ve been following you.” he says.

You stare at him, relief and anger coursing through you in equal measures. You want to scream at him; attack him, but you know that won’t end well. Instead you sit and breathe until you’ve decided what you’re going to say next.

“Tell me how you’re doing it.” you end up repeating.

“I cast an illusion in here, to make it look like I’m sleeping. Then I just… leave.” he tells you.

“How?” you ask incredulously.

“I am a god. Your mortal mind can’t begin to comprehend-”

“You teleport.” you say, more to yourself than anything.

Loki scowls at having been cut off.

“It’s more complicated than that.”

There’s a series of loud bangs on the door.

“Everything alright in there?” one of the guards calls.

“Yes.” you call back. For now, you add silently in your head.

“This doesn’t make sense. If you can get out, why don’t you just escape?” you ask, watching Loki suspiciously.

“I’m safe here.” is his simple reply.

“Safe from what?” you ask.

“You ask a lot of questions.” he tells you, looking straight at you.

“Well, you don’t make any sense.” you retort. He smiles at that. It’s the tiniest hint of the smallest smile, but you see it. There’s another long pause.

“Why me?” you finally ask. He doesn’t need you to elaborate; he knows what you mean.

“At first, because I wanted to you to kill me. No one else would. And then because my brother thought you were mad. I knew you wouldn’t tell anyone.”

You’re seething with rage.

“That’s twisted.”

“I’m bored.”

“So you make someone’s life miserable and convince them that they’re _mad_?” you ask angrily. Loki looks at you properly this time.

“I didn’t mean for it to go that far. I’m sorry.”

You don’t know how to respond. You hadn’t been expecting an apology.

“I’m assuming you’ve altered the CCTV already.” you say, looking up towards the camera which is mounted in the corner of the room. Loki nods, and you sigh.

“Hey, come on, my shift finishes in ten minutes.” one of the guards calls from the other side of the door. You stand up. Loki’s already turning away.

“Thanks for the coffee.” you say after a beat, as the door opens.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from @Roseavia3 (Wattpad user): Loki begins to feel bad about making her feel insane and begins to bring her presents as an apology and goes to visit her more often letting the Avengers once see him before regretting it.   
> A/N: I'm getting two parts out of this because I loved the idea so much<3 Keep sending prompts!

You haven’t seen Loki in twelve days. Not that you’re counting.

It’s weird. You should be relieved, and yet… you’re almost _bored_.

Granted, it’s nice that you’ve been able to move back into your apartment, and Tony doesn’t think you’re mental anymore, but your life seems awfully… quiet all of a sudden.

Only one thing is different. Every morning when you arrive at work, there’s a fresh cup of coffee on your desk. And it’s always the perfect temperature.

You can’t stop thinking of Loki locked up in that tiny cell deep underneath the Tower. You supposed he really had meant his apology about making you feel mental if he was giving up the only fun he’d been having for your peace of mind.

“I’m safe here.” he’d said. Safe from what? Or whom? You’d wondered about going to Thor for answers, but you hadn’t seen him for a while.

No, it was time to move on with your life. Your peaceful, boring life.

…

“Back again Miss?” the guard stood by the door leading down to the cells asked you as you approached.

“Yes, Tony’s being very insistent upon my speedy recovery I’m afraid.” you reply with a smile.

“That’s funny, because I spoke with Mr Stark about allowing you to see the prisoner last week and he said he didn’t recall instructing you to visit him.” the guard tells you coolly.

You swallow nervously, trying to keep a look of disinterest on your face. Before you’ve even opened your mouth, the guard smiles.

“It’s alright, he said I was to accompany you again if you were to return.”

“He did?” you ask in surprise.

The guard nods, and turns to open the door for you. You’ll have to go and visit Tony after this.

Four minutes later, you’re stepping into Loki’s cell again, and realising as you do that you haven’t yet thought of what you want to say to him.

He’s sat on the bed again, facing the door this time. The illusion in already in place… you assume. His facial expression doesn’t change as you step into the room and the door shuts behind you.

You move to sit on the chair that you sat in last time, and cross your legs. It’s cold in here.

“Why are you here?” Loki finally asks you, after realising that you’re not going to be the first to speak.

You open your mouth, and then close it again, shrugging.

“I’m bored.”

It’s not a lie. Does he smile at that? You weren’t looking at him, but you’re sure he did, if briefly.

“You wish for me to start following you again?”

“No! God, no. Please don’t.” you say quickly in alarm. For a second you wonder if you’ve offended him, before remembering that it doesn’t matter. He’s locked up. A criminal.

“Shame. I was rather enjoying it.”

“I was _not_.” you reply.

“Evidently.”

There’s a pause, and you clear your throat.

“You could… visit.” you suggest, internally cursing yourself as you speak. That sounds weird.

“What?” Loki asks, frowning disdainfully.

“If you want… if you’re bored. You could visit. Me.” you say, further hating yourself. How literate you are when you feel uncomfortable.

Loki just watches you, confusion and something like… disgust on his face. You should have kept your mouth shut.

“Forget it. I should go.” you say, standing up abruptly. _Don’t_ let yourself go red, not now.

“Wait.”

You stop, but don’t turn around.

“I’d like that.”

…

Your meeting with Tony after you’d been to visit Loki the second time had gone… surprisingly smoothly. He’d actually _congratulated_ you on getting the guards to take you to the most highly guarded cell in the Tower.

“Do you see now there’s no way Loki could be getting out?”

“Yes. It’s very secure.”

“Exactly. I’m glad you’re feeling better, Y/N.”

The next day, you’d spent all morning in anticipation of a visit from Loki. You couldn’t help but wonder if you _had_ in fact gone slightly mental; he was a convicted criminal and you found yourself… making friends with him.

Maybe not friends. Acquaintances. But still.

He tries to startle you upon his arrival. It doesn’t work.

“There was no coffee on my desk this morning.” you say, spinning around in your office chair to look at Loki. He’d seconds previously materialised right behind you.

If he’s flustered, he doesn’t show it.

“I forgot.” he says, walking around you desk to sit in the chair opposite you.

“Ah, yes. What with your busy schedule and all…” you nod, spinning back round to face your computer. He’s scowling.

“So you admit it’s you? Leaving the coffee?” you continue.

“I would have thought that was glaringly obvious.” he says.

“Thank you.”

“Why did you ask me here?” Loki asks you, ignoring your thanks and clasping his hands beneath his chin. Someone walks past your door, and you freeze.

“Relax. They can’t see me.” he tells you.

“I… told you. I was bored.” you say, answering his question.

“Mm, no. You want to ask more questions.” he sighs, leaning back. You’re at a loss. He’s right.

“Go on then. Ask away.” he says in apparent resignation.

“Can I ask about… the attack?” you ask tentatively.

“If you must.” Loki says.

“Were you being controlled by that thing too? Like me and Clint?”

Loki’s eyes seem to glaze over slightly, and his gaze drifts from your face to the window. You wait.

“Yes and no.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s complicated.”

You frown, sitting back in your chair.

“Why do you ask?” Loki asks you, before sitting up straight suddenly. “Did my brother put you up to this?”

“Wha- no! I haven’t even seen Thor in days.” you protest. Loki relaxes slightly, but continues to watch you suspiciously.

“So you’re simply being intrusive.” he says, leaning back again. You open your mouth in indignation, before realising he’s smirking slightly. Trying to annoy you. Well, you’re not going to rise to the bait.

You just sit, and wait for him to start talking. He sighs.

“The sceptre contained a powerful source of energy, which does have the ability to… affect ones actions. And I was under its influence. I realise that now.” Loki tells you.

“So you _were_ being controlled by it.” you say in horror.

“Yes, but… it’s not that simple.” he replies, quite heatedly. You frown.

“I don’t understand.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to.”

You bite your lip, watching him.

“Have you spoken to Thor about this?”

“No.”

“You should.”

“Why is that?” Loki snaps.

“I’m trying to help you.” you retort. There’s a muscle going in his jaw.

“Maybe I don’t need your help.”

“Maybe you would _like_ help but are just too stubborn to ask for it.” you shoot back.

He stands up abruptly and you flinch slightly, your hand moving towards your bottom drawer. He sees. Something crosses his face, something you haven’t seen before.

“Wait-”

He’s already gone.


End file.
